Family Matters
by Moonlit Sea
Summary: The learjet team are introduced to Christmas and for two of them it's not the happiest jolliest time as it maybe for everyone else.


**Disclaimer: **I do not own Transformers or any of the characters. However, any _unknown_ characters are of my own creation

The first thing any of the learjet team knew about the human holiday of Christmas was the green tree sitting almost proudly in a corner of the rec room. Upon asking about it the only response they received was "it's Christmas." The second thing they knew was a strange plant hanging from the door to the rec room, "should I be asking why you're all staring at us?" Storm asked a little annoyed seeing the occupants of the room look at them in anticipation only to be disappointed when nothing happened. After retrieving their energon and taking a seat at a nearby table Starlight noticed something odd about the greenery that had been added earlier in the week.

"Now that's odd." The light yellow femme mused looking at the tree.

"What's that?" Lightning asked trying to snatch a datapad away from the learjet leader and receiving a glare in return.

"That tree someone brought in, it seems to have been…decorated?"

Both Lightning and Storm looked over curious, they found their friend to be right. The tree now sported multicoloured balls hanging from its branches and some kind of shiny multicoloured ribbon-like material draped around it.  
"Why the frag would anyone want to do something like that, or even bring the thing in here in the first place?" Storm said confused.

The blue-grey femme looked back at the door and looked up to where the green and white plant hung on the outside. "And what's with this…hanging plants atop of doors all about?" she added.

"I'm surprised that ya haven't been told anything 'bout it all, Lightnin'. Seein' as who ya family members are." A voice said catching all the femme's attention.

"I didn't really think to ask any of them." Lightning replied plainly.

"Mind explaining what's going on, Jazz." Storm asked her voice having an annoyed, stern undertone to it.

"No need ta get so suspicious, Storm." The Porsche began "it's just our way of celebratin' the human holiday of Christmas."

"What the frag is this…Christmas?" Starlight asked, "and why is there a tree with multicoloured stuff in the corner of the room?"

"Perhaps it would be better if ya looked things up yaself." Jazz told them as he headed out.

"I don't like the sound of that." The white and ocean blue femme said warily.

Lightning suddenly chuckled gaining confused looks from her teammates, "missing anything, Storm?" she asked amused.

"Huh?" the learjet leader replied looking down and seeing her datapad was missing. She growled, "I'm going to kill him." She almost ground out glaring at the door.

"Whoa, calm down there, Storm." Starlight said at her friend's reaction to the missing datapad.

"No. He's gone too far this time, always taking my…"

"Ever think he does that to get you to notice him?" the blue-grey femme interrupted.

The learjet leader turned an annoyed look over at her teammate, "he's pretty hard to miss." She told her.

"Storm, sometimes I think you can be a real airhead when it comes to things like this." Lightning said with a sigh shaking her head and making Starlight laugh at her comment.

"Whatever. That mech's got to learn not to take my things, ever." Storm retaliated standing and heading out the door.

"Soooo," Starlight began an amused smirk on her face "Jazz has a thing for Stormy, huh?" she gave a small chuckle at the nod she received "Skywarp's gonna be pissed." She suddenly looked around upon realising what she said out loud, worried that someone might have heard her.

Lightning sadly looked at her friend, she had indeed learnt what all this…Christmas was about and didn't want her teammates to be upset over it. Starlight wasn't so bad seeing as she had Optimus to be with, it was Storm she was worried about. A small smile crept onto her face as she remembered how she found out that the plant above the door was called mistletoe, and that you were to kiss the one you stood underneath it with. Though she had a sneaking suspicion that Sunstreaker had planned it all.

* * *

Optimus gave a small smile behind his faceplate upon seeing his partner walk in. Though it worried him to see a sad lonely look in her optics, it disappeared when she saw him. "Is something wrong, Starlight?" he asked as she walked over to him.

"Does something have to be wrong for me to see my partner?" she quipped as she perched herself on his desk next to him.

"No." he replied "but I can see there is something troubling you. I saw the sadness in your optics."

The light yellow learjet chuckled, caressing the semi's face, "I'm afraid you may be seeing things, my dear Prime. I'm perfectly happy, I just thought we could spend some time together that's all. You have been kind of busy lately."

"Starlight," he began and saw a look in her optics that asked him not to say what he was about to, but he continued on "I have told you before that if you need to speak about Skywarp…" he saw a few different emotions pass through those pink optics before they finally settled on annoyance.

"Why bring him into this?!" she suddenly snapped. "So he's my brother, so what!" she stood and began walking the room "Just because he's on the opposing side doesn't mean that everything has to be about him. Just because I have moments where I miss him and want to cry at the cruelness of it all doesn't mean that's all I come to you for!" she stopped and looked at the floor her ranting reducing to a soft quiet voice "just because this human holiday is based on family gatherings and being grateful for the ones we love doesn't mean I have to honour the stupid holiday." Tears began to fall to the floor as her hands, which had curled into fists, began shaking. "Just because…" she began "just because…" she felt him embrace her "just because they say you should spend the holiday with your family doesn't mean you need to, right?"

"Starlight, are you saying that you would like to see Skywarp without any repercussions upon yourself and Storm? Pretend that this war hasn't separated the two of you even for a day?" the Autobot leader asked.

"Don't be stupid, Prime." She berated him, though there was no malice in her voice "that's an impossible thing to happen, everyone knows that. Besides, how would we ever be able to go back to being enemies afterwards? No, that's something that can't happen."  
Even as the learjet said this Optimus was putting a plan in motion, it would take a _lot_ of planning and persuasion but he would make sure that it would happen.

* * *

Storm walked into Prowl's office and had to withhold the slight sigh and chuckle when she saw how tense his doorwings became at seeing her. It was always the same thing, doorwings down and partly relaxed, she never saw them fully relaxed unlike with Smokescreen and Bluestreak, until he saw her and they'd rear and tense up. She wasn't even sure when she started finding it amusing, it was actually quite annoying especially when she was alone in a room with the mech, as all he either wanted to do was leave or get _her_ to leave which often left her with a lot of unanswered questions. This time she was determined to stay until she was ready to leave. "Why do you always tense up around me?" she found herself saying, not only surprising the Datsun in front of her but herself also.

After getting over his slight shock Prowl asked, "may I ask why you think that is?"

"I'm not stupid, Prowl, I can read wing movements. Doorwings are no exception, they're still 'wings'." She told him slightly annoyed. She saw a brief amount of annoyance flicker through his optics before disappearing.

"No-one is implying you are, Storm."

"Are you still worried about what happened when I went through my protocol?" the learjet leader suddenly asked seeing a flash of fear in his optics. She chuckled and sat in the seat opposite him, noticing the mech's doorwings rise a little higher. "Those doorwings of yours are going to be really sore when you finally relax them, trust me. I spent years being tense around a lot, and I mean a lot, of Cybertronians. I'm not here to cause you harm or chase up on anything my protocol may have…instigated." She couldn't help the small smile that appeared when she saw a doorwing twitch.

"Then why have you come here, Storm? You seem to have sought me out many times over the last few days…" the tactician began only to be interrupted.

"I wanted to talk to someone and…" she looked away and sighed "never mind, you'll probably think I have some ulterior motive or something, so I'll just ask what I came for and leave." Prowl looked at the upset and sadden form of the learjet leader in front of him, something he was quite sure she never let anyone see, including Starlight and Lightning. He let her continue though and try to see if he could find out what was wrong with her after. He had a feeling that if he let her leave in this state the blue-grey femme would no doubt yell at him for not trying to help her friend and teammate. "Jazz needs to stop stealing my things before I kill him." Storm practically demanded looking back at the Datsun with angry optics.

Prowl wanted to laugh at the demand the learjet had made, no-one could tell Jazz to stop what he was doing when the mech had put his mind to it. He himself had tried a dozen times to get the Porsche to stop doing a few things with no success, in fact, it only spurred the saboteur to continue on and almost try even harder at whatever it was he was doing. "I take it you have told him to stop."

"Several times. I'm serious, Prowl, if he takes my datapad one more time they will either be one less Autobot on the base or that mech will be missing an arm."

"His attempts have only become more brazen." The tactician said receiving a nod. "Unfortunately, Storm, the only way to get Jazz to stop is to wait until his gets bored." He raised his hand silently asking her to let him finish before she spoke "I would however, appreciate it if you didn't either maim or kill him during that time."

"Are you kidding me!?" the white and ocean blue femme burst out in anger as she stood "you're the slagging second-in-command of the Autobots! Can't you order him to stop or something?!"

Prowl calmly stared into yellow angry glaring optics, "it would do no good, it would only get him to be more daring and bolder with his tactics."

"Then you better hope he gets bored soon or…"

"Have you considered the fact that he may be doing this for a reason?" the Datsun interrupted.

"What possible reason could he have for stealing my datapads? Aside from making me extremely ticked off."

Prowl decided it was time to give the femme the information that had been given to him by the saboteur himself. The learjet was getting more and more irate, if he was not careful _he'd_ be the one in the medbay, not Jazz. "Only Jazz knows the reason why he is doing what he is, though I do happen to know that he has feelings for you."

"How could he possibly…wait, what?" Storm went from virtually livid to completely confused as Prowl's words sank in. "Jazz…no, no…he…" she gave a small chuckle "and they say you have no sense of humour." She smiled at him.

"I am not joking, Storm."

"But…but…" the white and ocean blue femme almost fell back into her seat at the revelation.

"It is why he kept after Lightning the way he did while your protocol was active and you were trying to pursue me." The doorwinged mech saw a light red hue upon the femme's cheeks as she recalled the embarrassing time.

"I'm sorry." She said quietly looking down at the floor. "I didn't mean to take my anger out on you. It's just…" she sighed "ever since my protocol I've found myself more at ease around you than with anyone here. I guess that's the side effect of not having a family member talk with you afterwards." She looked back up at him slightly worried "please don't think that means I have any hidden feelings for you, I don't…I…" she looked away again wishing the floor would swallow her up and get her out of this embarrassing situation. She looked up upon feeling a hand on her shoulder and was surprised to see him standing in front of her. She looked back over at the empty chair before looking back at him for a moment then looking away, she couldn't hold his gaze even if she wanted to. "I…I'll leave now. Sorry to have bothered you, Prowl." She got up and started towards the door only to stop when she felt him grab her wrist.

"If I understand flyer protocol correctly, you would have to have had some interest in me for your protocol to activate the way it did, despite what both Skyfire and Lightning said about you mistaking me for a flyer." He told her. He had actually researched the issue when it was discovered what had happened to the learjet.

"Just be glad you didn't answer it the way Prime did with Starlight. That's all I'll say, please let me go."

* * *

Lightning flew through the air happily giggling to herself as she felt the wind over her wings. She swung a little side to side before doing a loop and chuckling. Storm would have shouted at her for that, the femme's happiness quickly faded as she thought of her friends and teammates. This holiday was about being with friends, family, getting together and enjoying the company with the ones you loved. Though where she had her family with her Starlight and Storm did not, they had to constantly fight against them, prove that they belonged with the Autobots. She sighed and looked for a place to land, she found a mountain clifftop and headed down. She looked at the view before her, though it was beautiful it did nothing to brighten her mood and she sighed again. "Lightning?" she heard a voice ask and looked over giving them a small smile before looking back at the view.

"I'm fine." She told them.

"We both know that's not true. You would be in the air if that were so." They told her. The blue-grey femme looked away from both the view and the one that had accompanied her flight only to look back at them when she felt a hand on her shoulder. "You were thinking about Starlight and Storm."

"It's not fair, Skyfire." She told him "how is it that I can have my entire family with me and yet they have to fight against theirs? It isn't right."

"Would you rather fight against Bluestreak, or even Sunstreaker and myself?" the white jet asked her.

Lightning sighed, "no." she told him looking down at the ground "if I had to fight against my own sparkling, I think I'd probably kill myself. I just couldn't do it."

"That is how I felt when I was told what happened during my…absence. If you had joined the Decepticons…" he told as she looked at him with worried optics. "You have just the same problems as they have. In fact, you have it harder than they do." Seeing the confused look she gave, he continued "while Thundercracker and Skywarp maybe their brothers you have something far more…valuable."

"What? What's more valuable than a family member, a brother who you can't talk to or spend the time that you use to share with them?" she was surprised when the white mech pulled her into a hug.

"A sparkling." Skyfire whispered in her audio as he held her close.

"Bluestreak?" Lightning asked in surprise. Hearing no reply she looked up at him and saw his loving gaze mixed with sadness. "Is that how you feel about me?" receiving a nod she rested her head on his chest and hugged him back. "I thought you didn't care. You were always leaving, having others look after me after…" she stopped feeling the hug around her tighten. She sighed and just stood in her father's embrace.

Unknown to the two flyers someone was watching them, sad optics starting to well up at the scene before them as they hovered in the air remembering the last time they held their loved one close like that. Telling her to forget all about him and treat him like the Decepticon he was and not her sibling.

"You stare at them much more and they'll find you." A voice said interrupting the mech's thoughts.

"Would it surprise you if I said I didn't care anymore?" he asked still looking at the two Autobots. Watching as they pulled away from each other and the blue-grey femme flew off. He saw Skyfire start to head up but instead of following the femme he flew towards him.

"Thundercracker, Skywarp." The white jet greeted.

"What do you want?" the black seeker asked annoyed.

"Prime asked me to find you." Skyfire replied.

"What for, so you can tell us to stay out of our sisters lives and leave them alone." Skywarp partly snapped.

"How long have you been watching Lightning and I, Thundercracker?" the white jet asked the blue seeker and ignoring the mech's trinemate.

"None of your business." The blue mech said.

"Would the two of you like to see your sisters, interact with them like you used to with no repercussions on either you or them?"

"Where are you going with this, Skyfire?" Thundercracker asked slightly curious.

"Who cares." Skywarp said "it would be impossible for that to happen anyway."

Skyfire looked at the black mech, "are you saying that you wouldn't jump at the chance to see Starlight the way things were even for just a day?" he asked testing the mech. If Prime's plan had even the slightest chance of happening, he needed to see if the two seekers were up to it.

"Skywarp's right." The blue mech said "it's impossible. Even if it were possible what exactly do you think would happen the next time we saw each other in battle, there'd be no way we'd be able to fight. Things are better the way they are."

A small smirk appeared on Skyfire's face, "that's exactly what Starlight said." He told them "but if it _were_ possible, would the two of you be willing to take that chance?"

"If we were, where would this…day take place? I doubt it would be…" Thundercracker began only to get interrupted.

"In the Ark." The white mech replied to which Skywarp burst out laughing and Thundercracker chuckled.

"Nice try, Skyfire. We'd get shot at the moment we approached." The black seeker said amused.

"As I said, a day without repercussions. The two of you would be welcome there with no-one trying to shoot or lock you up. Just a day with your sisters, think about it." Skyfire said pertly trying to persuade them before flying off.

Skywarp chuckled as he watched to mech fly away, "can you believe him? 'A day without repercussion' how stupid does he think we are." He said looking over at his trinemate only to see a thoughtful look on his face. "You're not seriously considering it."

"Think about it, Skywarp," Thundercracker began "a day where we can show those other Autobots what Storm and Starlight are really like. Imagine them not having to always be on guard around everyone except themselves."

"While I'll admit it is tempting, you said so yourself. We'd never be able to fight them afterwards."

"You can see if Jazz has been able to win Storm's spark yet." The blue seeker chuckled seeing the annoyed look in his friend's optics.

"Not funny, Thundercracker." He said folding his arms across his chest "how exactly are we going to explain that we spent the day in the Ark for primus sake. Even if we say that we'll gather some information on Autobot activity."

"I'm sure Prime has something figured out. Skyfire did say that it was Prime who asked him to find us." he noticed the sadness that appeared on his friends face upon hearing the Autobot leader's name. He placed a hand on his shoulder, "plus it would give you the chance to talk with Starlight after her pairing."

"You do realise that we'll be practically useless after this, right?" Skywarp reminded him.

"You'll be pretty useless if we agree to this, as you'll no doubt be watching Storm all the time." The blue seeker chuckled upon hearing the growl that emanated from his trinemate.

"You better watch yourself, Thundercracker. The moment I get even a _hint_ that you like someone you're not going to hear the end of it."

"I'll make sure you never find out." He laughed and moved out the way as the black mech went to hit him.

* * *

Over the next week, Storm and Starlight began to notice some changes in the Ark's crew mostly concerning them, it made the learjet leader highly suspicious of everyone. Starlight had asked her partner countless times what was going on only to be told that everything was 'normal'. The two learjets began to wonder if everyone was starting to doubt where their loyalties lay. Each time they walked into the rec room there would be whispers and mechs looking at them funnily, each time one of them past a mech in the corridor there was either a look of disgust, worry or something else they couldn't quite place.

Lightning had finally had enough of everyone treating her friends and teammates differently all of a sudden and cornered her sparkling in rec room with the determination of founding out what was going on.

"Hello Bluestreak." The blue-grey femme said making the Datsun jump a little dropping his datapad on the table. She tried to glance at its contents, but he quickly snatched it up and subspaced it.

"Lightning, hi." He replied cheerily, though there was a little nervousness in his voice.

"How are you today, my dear Sparkling?" Lightning asked taking a seat next the mech and saw the nervous twitch in his doorwing.

"F-Fine, fine. I'm just fine. Though if you'll excuse me I have…"

"No time for me anymore? Well, that's to be expected I suppose considering how long we've been apart. It's like I barely know you anymore." Lightning said sadly looking down at the table.

"No, no, it's not like that!" Bluestreak exclaimed worried about his mother. "I just have a few important things Prowl gave me to do, that's all."

"Then why are you sitting here reading? Surely it can't be that important if you have time to do that." the blue-grey learjet asked curiously. She knew he was trying to get away from her, that he knew she wanted to know what was going on concerning the other two learjets. She'd asked Skyfire, his response was the same as Prime's to Starlight. She'd asked Sideswipe, Smokescreen and Prowl each stating in their own way that they had no idea what she was talking about. She had even tried sweet talking Sunstreaker into telling her what was happening, that…didn't go so well. She should have realised that after years with Sideswipe the yellow mech would grow instantly suspicious at any kind of persuasion technique used on him. The only mech left was Bluestreak.

_**Um…Prowl. I kinda need some help. Lightning is trying to…**_ the grey Datsun began comm-ing the tactician.

_**Ask you why everyone is treating Storm and Starlight differently.**_ Prowl replied finishing his sentence.

_**Yes! I tried to leave but then she said that I…I…don't have time for her anymore. I told her that you had given me some important things to do but she said it couldn't be that important if I was sitting here reading. I don't know what to do, she'll find out for sure then tell the others and Prime's hard work will be all for nothing and it'll be all my fault and…**_ Bluestreak said starting to get hysterical about his situation.

_**Bluestreak, calm down!**_ Prowl snapped _**what have Smokescreen and I told you about thinking things like that?**_ he heard a muttered sorry and tried not to sigh _**where are you?**_

_**In the rec room, Lightning is sitting next to me**_ the grey mech tried not to look over at his mother as he knew it would tip her off that she was being spoken about.

Unknown to Bluestreak, Lightning was watching his doorwings. She wanted to pull the mech close at seeing how he nearly broke down from whatever it was he was saying over communication. She knew it was more than likely with Prowl seeing as the Datsun had mentioned his name while trying to get away from her. She wondered, was upsetting her sparkling truly worth finding out the information he held about Storm and Starlight? Would she be no better than a Decepticon if she tried to force it out of him? she jumped slightly when she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked into the worried optics of Bluestreak.  
"You okay?" he asked. She smiled at him before walking out just as the Autobot leader walked in, she assumed he'd more than likely been asked to come and save the grey Datsun from her.  
Bluestreak worriedly watched his mother leave, paying no attention to the fact that the red and blue mech had stopped at his table.

* * *

Storm stood at the saboteur's door, she had thought a lot about what Prowl had told her a few days ago about the mech and his feelings towards her, now it was time to talk to him about it. She let out a deep breath before knocking on the door, or at least _try_ to knock on the door. No matter how hard she tried to force herself her hand just hovered in front of the door, shaking slightly. "Storm, you okay?" a voice asked startling the femme and making a gasp. "What have I told you about sneaking up on me like that, Starlight?" the white and ocean blue learjet said looking over at her teammate slightly annoyed, she received a shrug in response.

"Prime wants to talks to us." Lightning informed.

"By 'us' I'm assuming you mean Starlight and I." Storm said still a little annoyed.

"Actually, he asked for all three of us, and before you ask no I don't know what it's about." The light yellow learjet sighed and looked sadly away "it's not like he tells me anything anymore." She felt the blue-grey femme give her a hug and looked over at her giving a small sad smile.

"What are you doing outside Jazz's quarters anyway, Storm?" Lightning asked curious as she looked back over at the learjet leader.

"W-Why?" Storm asked stuttering, receiving a nod "I…uh…let's go see what Prime wants." She suddenly said authoritatively seeing the smirk that made its way onto Starlight's face, walking away from the door and pass the other femmes.

"Do you even know _where_ you're going?" Starlight asked amused turning to her.

The learjet leader turned back to them annoyance in her optics. "I assume he's called us to his office." Folding her arms across her chest.

"And you would be wrong, dearest Storm." Lightning told her chuckling at the slight glare she received from the femme.

"Don't you start." The white and ocean blue femme partly warned.

"He wants to see us in the rec room. Yeah, you heard right, in the rec room." Starlight explained a partly puzzled look on her face. "No, I can't find out why. Every time I ask he says the same thing, 'please bring Lightning and Storm with you to the rec room'. You'd think he…"

"Then let's all just head over there, the sooner we get there the sooner we get to find out what all this nonsense is about." Lightning said getting annoyed and heading towards the rec room.

"I do not like the look or sound of this." Storm began as she and Starlight followed after their teammate.

"Oh Storm, relax." Starlight dismissed "it's not like he's going to throw us out of the Autobots." She joked when fear suddenly gripped her "he's not, right? He…he wouldn't do that to us, would he?" she asked starting to panic.

"No Star, he wouldn't." the blue-grey learjet reassured her friend. "Storm would kick his aft for one thing." She joked glancing over at white and ocean blue femme and seeing an amused smile on her face.

As they approached the rec room door all three femmes started getting agitated and nervous, each wondering why the Autobot leader would call them to the rec room of all places. Storm let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, "I'll go first." She walked over to the door before either of the other femmes had a chance to say anything and was partly surprised by what she saw. All of the Autobots, or at least most of them, were standing virtually around the door almost like some kind of ceremony was about to begin.

_**Why are they all staring and smiling at us like that?**_ Starlight asked coming up beside Storm _**it's creepy.**_

"What are you all planning?" Lightning asked standing on Storm's other side and seeing Prime, Jazz and Sunstreaker centred in front of the crowd. No one said anything, only for a moment later to have all three mechs move towards the learjets in unison.  
Storm began to glare at the mechs whereas Starlight slowly started to hide behind her long-time friend, Lightning also started to move behind the learjet leader, though her movement wasn't as noticeable as the light yellow femme's. In perfect synchronisation each mech held a hand out to each femme, Optimus extended his hand to, a now hiding, Starlight a reassuring look in his optics, Sunstreaker held his hand out to Lightning only to receive a puzzled look with the blue-grey learjet looking between the mech's hand and his face. Storm was the only one who kept an annoyed almost angry look on her face as Jazz extended his hand her, a happy reassuring smile on his face.

"Starlight," Optimus finally said making the femme jump at suddenly hearing his voice "please follow me."

Starlight was both confused and terrified. She looked over at Lightning seeing the puzzled look on her face as she stared at her partner, no words were being said but she assumed they were talking over communication. _**St-Storm,**_ she nervously said opening a communication with the white and ocean blue femme in front of her _**w-what…what do you think's happening? Should I trust and go with him or…**_ she suddenly gasped gaining the other two learjets attention. She knew that signal, that pinging sensation that resonated in her spark, it only ever happened when a certain mech was nearby but that was impossible. She was in the Ark for primus sake it couldn't…her thoughts were interrupted when she felt someone hold her hand. Gradually she looked over at her lover and remembered what he had asked her when she went to him after finding out about Christmas, _"…you would like to see Skywarp without any repercussions upon yourself… Pretend that this war hasn't separated the two of you even for a day?"_ "you…you…" she began too shocked for words.

_**What? He what, Starlight? Tell me!**_ Storm virtually yelled at her teammate only to see her being led away towards the crowd. She felt her own hand being held and turned a glare on the mech only to soften a little upon seeing the reassuring look still on his face.

"Storm," the Porsche began.

"No." the learjet leader said, "I will not follow you; this is all some kind of trick." Her optics narrowed as she looked at the assembled mechs and her long-time friend who gave her a surprised look. "You've all been giving us weird looks, whispering about us whenever we enter this room. Now you suddenly expect us, expect me, to ignore that and follow you blindly anywhere?" she looked back at Jazz "you may be able to fool and lure the others into this," she snatched her hand back from the saboteur's grasp "but I will not let you lure me." She quickly turned and walked out of the room much to the dismay of both Starlight and Lightning who tried to follow but were held back by their lovers.

"I didn't think she'd accept this so easily." A voice said from behind the now sadden and upset crowd.

Both learjets looked over in surprise.  
"Was that…?" Lightning asked shocked.

The crowd parted and Starlight almost squealed in delight at who she saw in the back of the rec room. "Skywarp!" she cried out happily running and embracing her brother.

"Thundercracker." Lightning said quietly looking at the mech before looking at the door her friend disappeared through.

"How, why…what are you doing here?" the light yellow femme asked releasing the black seeker from her hug.

"Ask Prime." He replied looking over at the Autobot leader.

Starlight turned to her partner, though she still kept a hold on the mech fearing he might disappear if she let go and it all turned out to be a dream.

"As you said, Starlight," he told her "this human holiday is all about family, and although you may think of everyone here as your family. It cannot replace the real thing."

"You…you…did this…for me?" she asked amazed, upon receiving a nod tears began to well up in her optics and she ran to hug the semi squeezing him tightly. "Thank you." She whispered, the tears making their way down her face.

Jazz walked over to Thundercracker, "I'm sorry Storm left before ya had a chance ta show yaself." He apologised.

"Don't be." the blue seeker said looking at the white and black mech "Storm is highly suspicious of anything that might endanger her…or them." He explained looking back over at the two learjets. He sighed and looked at the floor "it's part of who she is now." He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked over at his trinemate.

"You should go look for her." Skywarp told him gently.

Thundercracker shook his head, "that would only…" he began only to get interrupted.

"She's probably in her quarters, I'll take ya." The saboteur said ignoring the growl the black seeker made at his suggestion.

Normally Thundercracker would chuckle and tease his friend over his feelings for his sister, but at this moment in time he just didn't care. "No." he replied, "if she doesn't want to see me then that's how it'll be."

"Wrong answer." Jazz said suddenly grabbing the blue mech's arm and pulling him out of the room. Much to everyone's amusement.

"I'm surprised you're not going after him." Starlight said quietly to her brother after walking over to him.

Skywarp looked around the room to see everyone oddly at ease around him despite the very prominent Decepticon insignia on his wings. They either stood or sat talking to one another.  
"Thundercracker can take care of himself."

"I wasn't talking about Thundercracker." The light yellow learjet replied amused. The black seeker looked at her the look in his optics going from confused to surprised and finally settling on annoyed. "I'm not blind, Skywarp." She began "you have feelings for her, why else would you have helped Lightning to rescue Storm or even try to keep her hopes up during her capture."

Skywarp folded his arms across his chest and looked away. "Because of you."

"Me?"

"Had Lightning not returned you would have come after her despite who your partner is. She was lucky I was the one who found her." He explained grumpily.

"And your behaviour towards Jazz?" Starlight chuckled as her brother growled upon hearing the saboteur's name.

"He was supposed to keep the two of you safe and he failed." The black mech replied just barely managing to keep himself from blurting out 'He's an Autobot.' Something that would surely get the attention of the room, the wrong kind of attention.

"You're running out of excuses, Sky." The learjet said smiling. "We both know you love her, and I'm sure Thundercracker does as well." He glared over at her. "That gives me an idea for when she gets here." A mischievous smile appearing on her face, she started to walk off towards Lightning only to be held back by Skywarp grabbing her arm and having her look back at him.

"It's bad enough I have to deal with TC teasing me all the time, I won't let you…"

"Skywarp." A voice interrupted. The seeker looked over to find his sister's partner standing in front of him.

"There's something I've been meaning ta ask ya." The Porsche said to the blue seeker as they walked towards the learjet leader's quarters.

"You want to know what I meant that time when you came to rescue Storm."

"Ya know, Thundercracker, ya need ta stop readin' my mind. It's startin' ta get disturbin'." Jazz partly joked receiving a chuckle from the mech.

"There is something I'd like to know, about yourself, Jazz."

"That being?" choosing his words carefully knowing they could come back to haunt him at a later time.

"How you would react to the fact that someone else lov-has feelings for my sister." Thundercracker told him watching the mech's reaction closely. It was minute, but he saw the saboteur flinch and smiled inwardly.

"Why would that bother meh?" the white and black mech asked unfazed. "I'd say they had good taste, wouldn't ya?" looking over at the seeker, giving him a smile and receiving a nod in reply. He focused back on leading them towards Storm's quarters, unaware that Thundercracker noticed how his outer hand had clenched into a fist and was shaking slightly.

"How have things between the two of you been since then?" Thundercracker asked looking back down the corridor, only to stop a moment later as the Porsche announced "there ya are." Gesturing towards the door. He looked over and was surprised to see Jazz walking away when he looked back.  
"Where are you going?" he asked.

"After Storm's reaction in the rec room I'm the last mech she'd want to ta see." Jazz explained as he stopped and turned his head slightly towards the seeker. "Laters." Though what he really he wanted to do was find out who his competition was and… 'politely', tell them to back off.

Thundercracker grabbed the mech before he had the chance to walk off again. The Porsche looked at him and although Jazz wore a visor across his optics Thundercracker could tell the mech was giving him an annoyed look.  
"You really think she's going to accept the fact that I'm standing here and she's not being tricked to come out. You don't know her that well…"

"And neither do ya." The saboteur virtually snapped back. "Ya sisters changed a lot since ya last saw her, Thundercracker. She doesn't even have the same slagging name anymore."

Anger began to build inside the seeker, "what the frag would know about Storm back then! You didn't know who she was until she came here!" he fumed raising his voice.

Jazz yanked his arm back from the blue mech's grasp. "I know enough." He told him also raising his voice "I know that ya broke her spark, Thundercracker. She changed because of ya, even the mention of ya damn name causes her pain." Thundercracker was glad he didn't have his weapons on him or he'd be shooting the mech right now, instead his fists shook, almost violently, by his sides. "I guess that's the part ya don't like. Being told that ya were the one who caused a kind and caring femme into the…"

"Stop it!" a voice cried out surprising the two Cybertronians. Both were surprised to see the learjet leader standing at her door, she glared at the white and black mech. "Get lost." She told him rudely "and if you ever think about talking my datapads again, I'll kill you." She threatened dangerously. Storm saw the shock on the mech's face before it turned into sorrow and watched him walk off. She didn't care though; no-one spoke to her brother like that. Speaking of her brother, she turned her glare on him.

"That won't work on me, Storm." He told her calmly "I've seen things far worse than that." He saw a flicker of sadness in her optics before the angry glare returned.

"Leave." The white and ocean blue learjet seethed. "I don't know why you're here but…" she stopped as he held her hand. She looked down at it partly confused before her mind caught up with her and she tried to snatch her hand back only for him to increase his grip. She looked up at him and was about to demand to be let go when she saw the smile on his face. "Why are you here?" she asked genuinely confused, her voice just above a whisper. He took a step towards her and she took a step back, she couldn't allow herself to fall for this again. This continued until she heard her door close, she took a look over at it before looking back at him. "You told me to forget about you. How am I supposed to do that if…"

"You should apologise to Jazz." Thundercracker told her softly.

"Jazz? But…why? All he does is annoy me."

"He saved you from Megatron. Something I could not." Sadness tinged the seeker's voice as he looked away from her.

Storm looked at the sadden form of her brother, she gave a small smile as she cupped his cheek and gently turned his head back to her. "No." she told him "Jazz didn't save me, Skywarp did."

Thundercracker placed a hand on hers temporarily shocking the femme at his touch. "Warp?" he asked receiving a nod.

"He told me not to give in, not to lose hope. If not for myself then for you. He promised me that someone would come for me, even if he had to do it himself." The learjet leader explained softly.

"Skywarp told you that?" he asked surprised.

"He did. It was what helped me through…my time there. He…tried to make me see that although Starlight and Lightning had partnered, I was not as useless as I thought I was. So you see, Thunder…" she chuckled seeing the surprise in his optics, it had been a long time since she called him that. "Skywarp was the one who saved me. Not from Megatron, but from myself."

"Lazer, I know you don't like being called that but just listen to me." Thundercracker began seeing the annoyance in her optics at being called by her real name. "Both Skywarp and Jazz are in love with you. As much as it would please me for you to choose Warp, tomorrow we return to the Decepticons and I do not want you to go through any more pain."

"Which is why you want me to apologise to Jazz, right?" she received a nod "and if I don't want either of them?" she asked tentatively.

"I just want you to be happy."

"Hm." She turned her back on him as she looked down at the floor. "The only way I'll ever be happy is by having my brother back." She sighed "it was a nice thought of all them to have the two of you here for this…Christmas thing…but…" she gasped and looked behind her.

Thundercracker saw the shock in his sister's optics as he hugged her, he saw that shock turn into sadness and knew what she was thinking. "Are you sure that's what you want? Would you rather not…"

"I miss you, Thunder," she revealed "I know there would be repercussions if you…"

"That is why I want you to find someone, someone who can help you through this. You know you're important to me, Lazer, which is why I must stay with the Decepticons. At least that way I can keep you safe."

Storm suddenly chuckled, "you could always rely on Jazz to come and get me." She said earning a small smile from him.

END


End file.
